Life Without a Mockingjay
by Allium Banner
Summary: Sequel to "Life Without Bread". Now that Peeta is dead Katniss is crushed and when she returns home Gale and Madge try to help her heal, while they run into their own issues as well. Gale and Madge POVS and is also a GaleXMadge story.
1. Chapter 1

**First, I need to warn all my fellow Peeta fans, this is more of a Gadge story than Peetniss, but you'll get all your much needed Peeta love through Katniss and her melodramatic break downs. There may be a "tad" bit of Katniss and Gale action, I haven't decided yet, but be warned.**

**Second, I want to thank everyone who voted in my poll for the title of this story, but in case you haven't noticed I ended up choosing a title that wasn't even on the list. It came to me while I was discussing some details, mainly the title, for this story with Solaryllis and we both really liked this title. It fits more with the original "Life Without Bread." **

…

**Now this will be told through Gale and Madge POVs and is a sequel to my story "Life Without Bread", but stands mostly by itself. Although if you haven't read that story, I suggest at least reading chapters 2 and 3 so you understand Gale's attitude and stance in this story. Also remember Gale is the Baker's boy, Peeta's dead (poor boy), and Katniss is the sad, moping victor of the 74****th**** Hunger Games.**

**Gale's POV**

It's been almost a week since the big reveal at the recap ceremony that Katniss is in fact the victor and is coming home. As soon as I found out about the news relief flowed through me. I don't know what I would have done if it was Lover Boy that came back…especially since I haven't been able to stop thinking about Katniss since I first started noticing her at school, just before she left for the games, and I mean really noticing her. The way she can be caring, but mysterious and hard all at the same time, or the way her hair falls softly down her back when she has it out of her usual braid…so yes, I've been thinking about her a lot. I feel like just knowing her has changed me. I've never felt so connected to someone before. Sometimes I feel like that if the world was a little different, and I had grown up in the Seam that we would have been really close, or maybe it's like those stories I've heard of back when there was religion and there were those people who believed that when you died you came back again in a different life. Maybe that's the connection I feel, that Katniss and I were really close in a past life, so I can still feel some close connection to her…is that even possible? Whatever it is, I know I can use it to help her through whatever pain it is that she's going through after the games, and my chances of her saying yes to being with me have also increased now that she'll be living pretty much in town, since we won't be from different social classes anymore.

I try to put my plans for my attack, no advance, towards Katniss away to think about another time because gym got out early today, and I get to eat lunch with Madge, the only girl who I can have more than a five sentence conversation with without her asking me out or telling me I have nice abs, not that I hate that or anything, but it's nice to have a change. Well, that and the fact that since Madge doesn't like me she'll be the perfect girl to ask about how I should ask Katniss out…ok so maybe I'm not putting my plan aside for lunch.

"Hey Madge." I'm standing behind my seat that's located across from her at the table.

"Gale? You didn't tell me you'd be in my lunch today. Come on, sit," she gestures to my seat with a smile as I obey her and take my seat.

"So…what have you been up to?"

"Thinking. A lot."

"Wow, that's different. What about?"

"The Games."

"Oh…" I can see Madge's face visibly sadden; she's never been very good at hiding her emotions.

"No, don't get sad. It's a good thing, it's her. I haven't been able to get Katniss Everdeen out of my mind since I found out she is coming home." Alone, I add in my mind.

Madge does a chuckle/cough/squeal and it takes her a while to get control of herself while I stare at her with a blank face, wondering what in the world that was for.

"Katniss? Katniss I-just-lost-the-love-of-my-life Everdeen? Seriously Gale, either you need to find better jokes or you've finally gone off the deep end if you think you're going to get her to go out with you."

"He's gone now. It was just teenage love anyways, that's not really real."

"You can call it all you want, but sometimes I would watch them in English class and I swear they could have full conversations without saying a word. Like they had some sort of connection or something. You don't lose that lightly-_she's_ not going to lose that lightly. Now, Katniss arrives back home on Saturday, that's two days away. In that time I suggest you get a hold of yourself before you do something stupid."

With that Madge gets up, grabs her tray and leaves. I haven't even been sitting here for more than five minutes and she just leaves me. Humph, after I figure out what I have to do to attract Katniss to me I'll have to figure out what it is that bugs Madge so much about me. She's the only girl I know that has never even had a little crush on me…Katniss doesn't count, she likes me…she just doesn't know it yet. Her and that boy having a special connection? My butt. We can have a special connection too.

**Madge POV**

Gale is so full of himself all the time. I don't even know why I allow him to break my peaceful alone time at lunch with his sorry self. He thinks he knows girls just because practically every girl in this school likes him? Well every girl except for Katniss. I'm sure of it. I've seen him try to talk to her a few times and I notice as soon as he approaches her she tenses up and keeps looking around, trying to find an escape route, but of course "girl magnet" Gale wouldn't notice that vital piece of information, especially since he wasn't even thinking about the fact that she was taken, and I feel that technically she probably still is. I've never really talked to Katniss before, except for a few times in class when I loaned my pencils to her, but a girl is a girl and if I was that close to a boy like Peeta I wouldn't forget about him easily. Although, unfortunately I'm not close to a nice boy like Peeta, no the only boy I ever get to have more than one sentence conversations with is "my ego is bigger than a mountain" Hawthorne. Who does he think he is anyways? He'll just be making bread his whole life. My father's the mayor. He could get me connections to jobs in the Capitol or practically anywhere else if I wanted, but then I force myself to stop thinking those thoughts. Yes, I have the life that allows me to be a stuck up brat who thinks they're the best person in the world, but my father's taught me better than that, and I wouldn't want to be like that anyways…even if it meant I'd probably have more friends than I do now just from showing off that I'm the Mayor's daughter. Instead I'm little Madge that most people never say more than hi to and who has one friend. One solitary friend, and he's not even a girl who I can talk about boys with, or even a boy who would want to talk about anything besides himself, no, my one friend is Gale "I'm so cool" Hawthorne, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't even know that.

Today is the first time I've ever gotten so mad as to actually leave Gale. Perhaps it's the fact that I finally lost my patience, or maybe it bothers me that I know he's going to try and meddle in Katniss' already damaged life, and not to help her either, but to gain something for himself. That's what it always is with Hawthorne.

…

After two more classes the day is finally done, and I start walking home in the mildly overcast weather; it's not raining yet, but it looks like it will soon. I only walk a few blocks when I reach the bakery. Sometimes I walk in, saying my father sent me to get some bread, just so I can see Gale. Even though I'm supposed to be mad at him right now, I still feel the urge to see him, so I enter the bakery, hoping he won't try and mention Katniss again.

I enter the bakery and notice Gale's father, Pheelo, standing at the counter in the lobby. "Good afternoon, sir."

"Ah, Madge, good afternoon. Gale isn't home yet." The Hawthornes live in an apartmentish house above the bakery, just like most of the town families.

"Oh, um, I was just stopping by to pick up some bread…my father asked me to."

"Oh, of course you were," he says with a knowing smile. I think he's the only person who's seen past my cover story. My father just thinks I really like bread. Well, I have always known that Mr. Hawthorne is a very smart and logical man, but I think Vick and Posy were the only children to get that trait from him because Gale and Rory are door knobs, well especially Gale.

"Well, since you're our best customer I suppose you deserve a free loaf of bread for your loyalty to our bakery."

I have to giggle at this, "You're the only bakery in the whole district, so you don't have much competition."

"Well, I guess there will be more free bread for you in the future then."

"No, please, let me pay-"

I start fumbling in the tote that I use as a backpack for my money, but he stops me by staying, "Oh, don't worry about it dear, now here you go, and hurry along." He hands me the packaged bread and gives me a light shove towards the door, like I'm late for something and he knows it. The only thing is that I'm not, my whole afternoon is free. Hmmm…maybe Pheelo is just busy with other things and wants to get me out so that he can continue with them.

Whatever the reason is, I leave swiftly and continue walking the rest of the way home. My house is in the far corner of the district, but before the graveyard, so to get home I have to pass through the town square and the Justice Building. As soon as I walk around the corner of the Justice Building I can see my lawn, and I notice that someone is sitting on my front steps.

**Gale POV**

As I'm sitting on Madge's front steps I'm starting to get a bit anxious; she usually beats me home and she lives farther from school than I do, so why isn't she home yet? My anxiousness might also be due to the fact that if Mayor Undersee gets home from work before Madge does he'll probably wonder what a random boy is doing sitting on his front steps…ok so maybe I'm not a totally random boy, I've met him a few times, but I don't like talking to him unless Madge is around…and sometimes even then; he can be quite intimidating.

Suddenly I see Madge turn the corner of the justice building and I feel myself visibly relax, well until I realize that now that she's here that means I have to actually talk to her, well apologize, which is what I came here to do.

"Gale? What are you doing here? I was just at the bakery."

"You were?" I must have just missed her. I left school as soon as the bell rang today because I wanted to go home real quick so I could tell my dad that I'd be late for work because I had to talk to Madge, and still arrive at Madge's house around the same time she would, but apparently I didn't need to worry about that.

"Yes, your father gave me free bread and whisked me out the door."

I silently snicker to myself. I can see my father doing that, especially since he seems to think there's something up between Madge and I. I bet he thought I was planning on having a much different conversation with Madge than just apologizing to her…well I guess a little bit of me also wanted to come so that I could ask Madge why she doesn't like me. It's been bothering me a lot more lately and I don't know why, but I do think that knowing it would help me learn how to get Katniss to like me because if it's some bad habit I have, like biting my nails I can easily change that so that it won't be a turn off for Katniss too.

When I don't reply she urges me on again, "So? What are you doing here?" She's got the perfect condescending yet questioning look on her face while she continues to stand, looking down at me while I continue to sit on the steps.

"I…I wanted to apologize."

"Apologize?" Her facial expression actually changes to one of shock; does she really think I'm incapable of saying sorry?

"Yes. For ummm…stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" Now I can tell that she's enjoying my misery, oh well, I don't care if it helps her forgive me. Although I still don't know exactly what I'm apologizing for.

"For ummm…lunch, and what I said…"

"What did you say?"

"Madge-!"

"I want to know that you actually know what upset me."

"I don't know! All I talked about was Katniss and I wanted your help but-"

"Exactly! I'm not going to help you do something that I think is wrong. Katniss is hurt and destroyed and she doesn't need anything else to worry about right now, and I would know about hurt and destroyed people, or have you forgotten that I live with one?"

Oh yeah…her mother, who has horrible headaches from her past experiences and uses morphling to calm them. I've heard it's the only way she can get a full night's sleep now.

"Sorry…I-"

"Look Gale, you can go tell Katniss whatever you want, but don't come crying to me when she denies you. In case you don't remember, she just lost her best friend."

"Boyfriend."

"Why can't it be the same thing? And for her it was. They were best friends forever; they hadn't even started going out until a few weeks or so before the reaping for the Hunger Games."

"How do you know so much about them? Are you their stalker?" I laugh a little, it was meant to be a joke, but Madge doesn't seem to be taking it that way."

"I…never really had much else to do in class, and they usually sat right in front of me…"

"Oh," for some reason I feel like that has a deeper meaning than she's letting on, but I'm not very good with all of this sensitive stuff.

"Madge?"

"Yes?"

"Why don't you like me?"

"I like you Gale, you're my friend."

"No, I mean LIKE like me."

"Are we back in middle school now?"

"Madge, please?"

"Uh, well maybe it has something to do with moments like this, how you can't stand it that there's one girl, no, two girls that don't like you."

"I don't want to fight about Katniss with you anymore, but please just answer my question?"

"I'm serious Gale. It's the fact that you think you're so awesome that it annoys the heck out of me some times, and that's why I left today."

"So it didn't have to do with Katniss?"

Madge sighs, and then answers, "No, it did. Why don't you think about how it does while you walk home. Good-bye, Gale." With that she walks around me, up the stairs, and shuts the door behind her, not looking back, and then it starts raining.

On my way home I take her advice and try to think of a reason as to how Madge's annoyance at our conversation has anything to do with how she apparently doesn't like that I act like I'm amazing, which I am. In the end, I came to the conclusion that Madge isn't annoyed, she's just jealous that she's not as great as I am. Poor Madge.

**I need to thank Solaryllis for helping me with/giving me this idea for a story. You should thank her too. When I was trying to think of an idea for a Gadge story I come up with things that had mixes of half naked Madges, rape, jails, and other horrible things (although I admit I like reading the stories like those!)…But this is probably more my forte and writing style. Sticking with naïve Gale and Madge instead of the two that are crushed by hard times in their lives, plus with this you guys get a whole other story that's related to "Life Without Bread"!**

**I also want to thank JezTheMockingjay74, again, for being a second eyes with the mistakes in my stories. You're awesome! Thanks!**

**And then I'll thank all of you readers! Thanks and please tell me what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: I've changed my PenName from carrieabanner to Allium Banner. Read my profile for more details as to why. Thanks! Enjoy!**

**And this story goes out to Solaryllis for all the Hawthorne family "love."**

**Gale POV**

I'm currently standing in front of Katniss' front door in the Victor's Village and strongly wishing that I wasn't so nervous, since my body likes to sweat when I'm nervous, and I don't want to repel Katniss before I even get the chance to talk to her.

I really wanted to stop by and say hi when she returned yesterday, but she was busy moving, talking to reporters, and going to her big 'Welcome Back' banquet, plus I think it was better to let her get settled in before I add more stress to her life, which I am starting to realize Madge was right about. I mean if I just lost somebody important to me and then this random person I only some-what know appeared and wanted to be friends with me, then I might get a little stressed out. I remember talking to my mom once about death and losing someone, I don't remember why we were talking about it, but just that we were, and she told me that most people who lose someone don't feel like adding someone new into their life, at least not for a while, but then I remember her also saying that during times of stress and loss that it's actually better to have friends and family around, so that's why I'm here at Katniss' front door. I know she probably won't want to be friends with me right now, but I know that I can help her feel better. What she needs right now is a friend to comfort her…or whatever I am, and it's that thought and my determination to see her that finally gets my arm to clench into a fist and bang on the Everdeens' door.

After standing there and waiting for what feels like an hour, but is actually two minutes, I decide to come back another day and start to head home, when the door opens and I come face to face with an adorable little blonde girl who reminds me of Posy, but who I recognize as Katniss' little sister. As we stare at each other, I can tell that she doesn't know what to say to this stranger at her door, so I decide to speak first.

"Ummm…Hi, I'm Gale."

"Gale?"

"Yeah, my family owns the bakery." When I say this a huge smile appears on her face and I know I've broken the ice.

"Hi Gale, my name is Prim. Do you like it there?"

"Where?"

"The bakery. I would love spending all day with beautiful cakes and cookies, although I think you should put more decorations on them, like flowers!"

"Oh, we've tried. Nobody in my family is artistic enough, but I think my little sister will grow up to be the cookie decorator when she gets older; she already likes to draw."

"How old is she?"

"Six."

"That's cute."

"How old are you?"

"I'm twelve!"

"Hey, you're only one year younger than my brother Rory, he's thirteen."

"Does he kind of look like you?"

"Yeah, a bit I suppose."

"I think I've seen him at school. Oh, I'm sorry…" she blushes and then continues, "I always get into conversations easily. It annoys my sister sometimes. So, what can I do for you?"

"Oh, ummm…Can I talk to your sister?"

"Katniss?"

"Yeah, why? Do you have another one?" Prim giggles at this.

"No, just Katniss," then her eyes turn sad and she finishes by saying, "but she hasn't been up to anything lately…Do you think you could get her to come out of her room?"

"I'm hoping so."

At this Prim's smile returns and she turns to go into her house, "I'll be right back!"

Prim doesn't close the door behind her, so I see her mom stop her as she starts to go up the stairs to Katniss' room. "Where are you going in a hurry Prim?"

"To tell Katniss she has a guest!" Mrs. Everdeen's eyes turn to see me at the door and she sighs.

"The Baker's boy, right?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, I'm sorry, but Katniss isn't taking any visitors at the moment."

"But mom! He thinks he can cheer her up!" Prim interjects. "Then maybe she'll come out and play!"

This doesn't seem to change Mrs. Everdeen's mind, so she maneuvers around Prim to get to the door, says good-bye to me and gently closes it.

So much for helping Katniss.

How am I supposed to cheer her up if I'm not allowed to even see her? That's when I notice the sturdy vines growing up the side of their house, but I shake my head. I'm not so desperate that I would scale their house and pop into Katniss' room. What would I even say when I get in? "Hi, I'm Gale. Please don't hurt me for breaking into your house. I really just want to help you get over your dead boyfriend." Oh yeah, that'd go over _quite _well. Besides, if her mom doesn't think she's up for company then it's probably best that I don't see her…well at least that's what I'm telling myself.

…

After about ten minutes I finally make it home, and my little brother Vick is at the front counter sitting on a stool when I enter.

"Gale. Where have you been?"

"Out."

"We've been really busy today, so mom and dad want your help in the back. Don't you always work on Sundays anyways?" I look around and notice that the lobby is empty, yeah, _real _busy.

"Yeah, there was just something I needed to do first. I already talked to dad about being late."

"Oh…did you visit Madge?"

"What? No. Why would you think that?"

"Rory says you like her. He told me that you visited her yesterday to tell her you want to marry her." Oh the imagination of a ten year old. I'm starting to think that he got this information from Posy, not Rory…although giving Vick possibly embarrassing false information about me is definitely something Rory would do. Good thing it's not embarrassing though because I don't like Madge. Ha, take that Rory.

When I break from my mental thoughts I notice that Vick is staring at me like I grew antennae. "What?"

"Why are you standing there? Mom and Dad need you in the kitchen."

"Oh, yeah, going." Why does Vick always have to question me? Maybe because he's the smart one, even though I'm older; sometimes it gets old being set straight all the time by a kid eight years younger than me.

When I enter through the door into the back kitchen I almost trip and fall on the flour covered floor. What happened in here?

"Ummm…Vick said you needed my help?"

"Oh, Gale honey, good thing you're here," says my mom, "Ebbin Frostling and Gina Goldstring are getting married tomorrow and we still need to bake their cake, frost it, make four dozen cookies, frost them, and then make four loaves of bread for their guests and then a loaf of special toasting bread. Can you please start on the toasting bread?" Ah, so that's how we're busy. My family loves weddings, not because we're ever invited to any, but because they're good business for us. We're raking in the dough with this Frostling wedding…quite literally.

"Sure. Hey, where's Rory and Posy?" I start to gather the ingredients for our special recipe toasting bread, while I wait for my mom to reply, except she's concentrating on frosting the cake, so my dad answers for her.

"Rory just went to go buy some flowers from the Flower Shop for the cake and will be back soon, and we got Mrs. Erwin to allow Posy to play with her daughter Valley for the day so that we can concentrate on all this food we need to make."

The Erwins own the hardware and construction store, and since all Mrs. Erwin can do while her boys and husband go do construction jobs around Town is watch over the store, we're able to get her to watch Posy a lot for us when the bakery gets really busy. It helps that she has a daughter only two years older than Posy, and that almost nobody can resist Posy's cuteness. I learned that the hard way.

"Hey big bro! Finally decided to stop kissing Madge and come join us?" Uh, and Rory wonders why I cheer when he's gone. I turn to my parents to see if they'll back me up on this, but my mom's pretending to be concentrating very hard on the cookie she's decorating and I can tell my dad's trying really hard to hold in a laugh. Great; looks like I'm on my own to deal with the little pain in my rear end. There's one thing for certain I will not do though, and that's give him any kind of satisfaction, so I decide to hit him where it hurts.

"At least I've kissed a girl."

I look up from my dough to see his reaction and I can tell he's struggling to glare at me and think of a good comeback at the same time.

Then he gets one and I'm slightly afraid because he's got a determined look on his face. "Well at least I'm not the one getting yelled at by the Mayor's daughter and left alone on her door step!"

That got me. Dang. How did he know about that? "What? Are you my stalker now?"

"Nah, I just saw Madge at the flower shop and all I had to do was ask her how your conversation with her on Thursday went and she spilled everything. Wow, you really pissed her off."

"Rory!"

"Sorry, mom…I meant 'made her very angry.'"

"What did you do to make her so mad, Gale?" Why does my dad always assume it's my fault?

"What makes you think it was me and not Madge?"

"Because all my sons will always be gentlemen, so I don't care who started the mess, you're the one to blame and the one who will fix it because I taught you to treat women correctly. That goes for all my boys." He gives Rory the 'that means you too' look.

"What about Posy?" Rory questions because he's obviously too dumb to figure it out on his own.

"Well, I don't want to think about her and boys yet, but I do know that if she ever comes home crying I'm blaming the boy, and Hazelle honey, you should probably restrain me because I can't say what I might do to any boy that hurts my little girl."

Great, so Posy gets protected and we get blamed? No wonder mom always calls dad romantic; it's because he's whipped by every female on this planet.

At this point I turn back to my bread, maybe if I act like I'm really interested in making my bread they'll drop this whole conversation because I, personally, have had enough 'Gale teasing time' for one day.

That's when, just as Rory is about to open his big mouth again, I hear the best sound ever, the bell ringing from the front door to signal that we have a customer. "Vick might need some help up front. I'll go help him and come back. I'm done with the bread anyways. Will you stick it in the oven Rory?" I shove the tray of dough in his hands, grab a cloth to dry my hands on and start heading towards the door that leads to the front, "Thanks bro."

When I enter the lobby I automatically start my usual great of "Hi, how are you? What can we get you today?" before I notice that there's laughing going on. I turn to Vick and notice him smiling wide, like he just did some amazing thing and he's proud of himself for it, then I turn to see who our laughing visitor is and immediately freeze. At first my mind thinks Madge, and "Oh crap, I just walked into a huge trap," but then I notice that the girl is much shorter than Madge, since her head barely comes to above the table.

"Prim? What are you doing here?" I say in a little harsher tone than I intended because I'm in such shock at seeing Katniss' sister here.

"Oh, I'm sorry; should I not have come to visit here?" She starts to look sad, like she's hurt that she offended us, which she didn't, in fact, I'm thinking she's my savior right now, especially if I introduce her to Rory.

"No! Of course not, sorry it sounded like that at first. I'm just a little surprised to see you here."

"Well…" this is when she starts leaning back and forth on the balls of her feet with her hands behind her back, "I usually spend my Sundays with Katniss, but she is so hurt right now. I really hope she starts feeling better soon. I don't like seeing her like this. Anyways, she doesn't want to see anybody, not even me, so I was wondering if I could spend the evening here, or are you busy?"

"We are, but we can always use an extra set of hands, and I can introduce you to Rory. He's in the back." Finally, I might get some work done now that Rory will be concentrating on Prim instead of me. Just hopefully he won't do anything stupid that might make her hate our family because that would really hurt my chances with Katniss.

"I can come into the back and help bake?"

"If you want to; Madge Undersee does it every so often. I don't want you to feel like we're taking your labor for free though," because that's exactly what we're doing, "I'm sure my dad could give you some cookies when you leave though."

"Oh that's fine. I've always wanted to see the bakery kitchen! Are you making any cakes today?"

"Actually, yes, for a wedding."

"I like drawing sometimes…perhaps I could help with decorating it?"

"It's kind of an important job, and you can't get rid of mess ups easily, but I'm sure my mom would let you help her. Follow me to the back." We start walking to the kitchen when I remember Vick. "Oh, Vick, you ok up here by yourself?"

"Yes. I think I might go grab my math homework soon and start on it." If we weren't all doomed to work in the bakery when we're older, I'm sure that boy would go places just from his dedication to learning. I, on the other hand, have never done a day of homework in my life. My future job's set for me, so why should I spend my time learning stuff that won't help me with it, except for maybe teaching me fractions so I can measure ingredients correctly.

In the kitchen everybody's busy again, each person doing their own job.

"Hey everyone, I want you to meet Prim Everdeen."

"My full name is Primrose."

"Nice to meet you darling," says my mom in her sweet voice, which I think starts to make Prim feel more comfortable, "and this is my husband Pheelo, and this is one of our other sons, Rory. I think you might be around the same age. How old are you Prim?"

"Twelve. Rory is one year older than me." Once she says this it's no surprise that Rory isn't as interested in kneading his bread as he was a second ago.

"How'd you know that?" Rory asks her, I bet he's hoping she's his stalker or something. He gets a kick out of obsessed girls like that; strange boy.

"Gale told me."

"You talk to Gale?" The look he gives me is either saying 'Why didn't you tell me you knew Primrose Everdeen?' or 'What are you doing spending your time with kids my age?'

"Yes, my _real _location this morning was at the Everdeen house, not Madge's, and I've got proof now so take that!"

Prim looks at me like she's waiting for me to explain, and then asks, "Why is it a bad thing that you were at Madge's house?"

"I wasn't." I don't want to loose my temper at this girl, but if she keeps pushing me like this I may not be able to hold it in.

"I know because you were at mine, so why is the question bothering you then?"

"Because Gale likes Madge."

"I do not Rory!"

"Now, Gale, there's no reason to get angry." What does my mom know about getting angry? She never gets angry, so I have to have double the anger to fulfill the necessary anger level in this house.

"Uh! Well, Prim came to help in the bakery, so now you'll still have eight arms. I'm leaving." Before they even have the chance to stop me or even just say, "ok," I'm storming out the front lobby door.

So what if I have feelings for Madge? It's none of my family's business. Wait. I don't have feelings for Madge, so it can't be anybody's business. I like Katniss. She is the one I'm chasing after right now, so what if Madge is my friend and I eat lunch with her sometimes? That doesn't mean I have to go out with her. So what if she's nice, doesn't talk to me differently just because I'm popular, can set me straight when I'm being stupid, and is really beautiful? That doesn't mean I like her…does it?

**Haha. I got the idea to end in a stream of Gale thought and just had to do it. There was no Madge in this chapter, at least not physically but she was mentioned a lot, because I wanted to show more of how the Hawthornes live their lives in the bakery.**

**Also I'm sorry it took long to write this. I started writing it pretty soon after chapter 1, but it just took me forever. I love writing this story, but it's hard for me sometimes.**

**But…please review and tell me what you thought!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I semi-edited this chapter, I hope it's fine.**

**Madge POV**

My house is in the farthest back right corner you can get in the district, besides the cemetery, and my room is on the side looking out into the Town Square. Sometimes, when I've run out of "hobbies" to do to make my parents think that I'm doing something productive, and my mom is hung up on morphling and my father is either busy at work or shut up in his study downstairs, I just pull my chair up to the window looking out onto the square and sit there for hours.

I like to play a game sometimes while I'm people watching through my window. While I'm playing it I might look at a group of teenage girls, for example, and picture what it would be like if I was out there with them, and I usually come up with the same answer, that I would just be left out and would be hanging just outside of their circle. When this conclusion makes me start to rethink my life, like it usually does, I take the place of whichever girl I feel is the leader in the group in my mind and picture her personality and charisma in my body. It usually gives me a small dose of optimism and outgoingness for a while, but today I don't feel like pretending. I want to actually get out of my house and live my life.

As I'm putting my little flats on my feet and grabbing my lightest jacket, since its summer but still a bit chilly, I'm thinking about my encounter at the flower shop earlier today. My parents are having a small dinner party tonight with some friends of theirs, and my mother had asked me to go to the flower shop and get some flowers for the table. My mother is almost never healthy enough to even come out of her room, so I immediately told her I would do it, and headed off to the store. When I had got there I was surprised to see Rory, Gale's brother, looking at flowers.

I had first approached him by asking if he was getting flowers for anyone special and he had answered, "Gina Goldstring." Gina is about two times the age of Rory, so I raise one of my eyebrows at him questioningly and he laughs.

"She's getting married tomorrow and I have to get some flowers for the cake," he turned back to the flower display and then continued with, "So, how did your's and Gale's 'discussion' go on Thursday?"

I sighed at that and continued to spill everything about Gale and mine's argument on Thursday. I hadn't realized how much it really had bothered me and how much I really wanted to talk to somebody about it. Uh, I really need a girlfriend, especially since Gale's brother, not to mention the fact that he's the blabby one in his family, isn't probably the best person to talk to about Gale. I'm sure Rory went home after buying his flowers to tease Gale about how mad he had made me, and I should feel bad because my loud mouth will get Gale into that trap, but I don't because he deserves to be set straight every once in a while.

I'm now all ready to go outside and have reached my front door. I take a quick glance at my father's study to see if he is busy. We use to go on walks together all of the time, but the door is closed, which means he doesn't want to be disturbed, besides I plan on staying out as late as I can so that I don't have to be here during my parents' dinner party. "Dad, I'm going out!"

I hear a muffled, "Ok honey," from the closed door, which is a good enough answer for me, so I slip outside.

I'm heading towards the Town Park. It's a beautiful place to sit on a nice evening like today and will maybe help me relax, since I've been so agitated lately. I have a few coins in my shorts pocket incase I get hungry later. I don't plan on joining my parents and their friends, which they understand. It's grown up time, and I'm not ready for that yet. I'd rather be worrying about how I look or if a boy will ask me out instead of thinking about politics and economics, although my parents do try to stay clear of politics related subjects in the house.

The Park is towards the center of Town, where as my house and the Town Square are on the far side of town, so I have to walk a mile or so, but I don't mind.

When I reach the bakery I seeing Mrs. Hawthorne looking out the front window with a questioning look on her face, but it turns to surprise when she makes eye contact with me and she rushes out the front door to talk to me. "Madge?"

"Yes, Mrs. Hawthorne?"

"Dear, have you seen Gale?"

"No, why?"

"He got a bit angry and left. I'm worried about him."

"Don't worry, Gale will show up once he's cooled down. He usually does."

At this she chuckles and smiles at me. "I suppose you would know all about his tantrums, wouldn't you dear?"

Is she teasing me? Or being sincere? I can't tell and the fact that my head is starting to spin from embarrassment isn't helping at all.

When I don't answer because I have no idea how to, she continues, "You know, Gale only picks a fight when he cares enough to pick it. From what I hear, he must care a lot about you."

Now I understand, but I also know more about the argument than she does. "If what you're saying is right, then he doesn't care about me, ma'am, just the argument." Just Katniss.

"Well, I suppose it's however you interpret it, but I do know that Gale seems to have a lot on his mind lately. He's been messing up my bread left and right all week!"

I giggle and then say in a small voice, "Sorry."

"Oh there's no need to say sorry, unless you're what he's been thinking about."

Could I have been? Is it possible that THE Gale Hawthorne has been messing up bread, which is a big deal, because he's been thinking about me? As soon as I think about it I dismiss it from my mind. There's no need to get my mind thinking of fantasies, I'm trying to focus on the present. After a few more moments Hazelle says that she needs to get back to the bakery because they're busy, even though I don't see anybody but Vick in the lobby, and heads back inside.

I'm now about half way to the park, so after about ten more minutes I'm coming up to the nicely manicured grass, flowers and trees of the Town Park. More work is put into the park in Town than the Meadow in the Seam, which has tall grasses and wild flowers, but those who don't stick out so much in the Seam, like me, would pick the Meadow over the park any day.

I don't see anybody on the grassy lawn besides me, which is nice because I usually come here to be alone, so I head over to my favorite bench under the biggest oak tree in the park, but as I approach my bench from behind I notice that it is already occupied. I guess I was wrong about being the only person here.

Just as I'm about to head over to a different bench deeper in the park, I recognize the shaggy dark brown hair of the bench stealer. Gale. I'm frozen in my place behind the bench. I haven't seen Gale since our fight on Thursday, plus he being here kind of ruins the point of me coming here to clear my thoughts of him.

I'm debating leaving without saying anything, when Gale senses someone behind him and turns around. His eyes widen when he sees me, but mine immediately go to my feet. I feel like a girl who got caught spying, but it's crazy because I shouldn't feel ashamed or shocked at being discovered. I wasn't spying on Gale, I just ran into him, and I shouldn't be shocked that he saw me because I wasn't even hiding.

While I'm having a mental battle in my head over why I'm reacting like I am, Gale decides to ask a question I actually know the answer to, "What are you doing here?"

"You're sitting on my bench." Ok…not what I meant to say. Why am I acting so stupid? It was just ONE fight THREE days ago! Gale and I have got into fights before, so why am I acting so strange now? _Because it was about a different girl._ I really hate my conscience at times like these, since it always knows the best way to slap me in the brain, and worse, it's almost always right.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know any of these benches were claimed, but I suppose if anybody owned one it would make sense that it's the Mayor's daughter."

"Stop it, that's-that's not what I meant. You know that I don't get special privileges just because of my dad's job! I don't go around calling you 'The Baker's Son'," well not outside of my brain at least, "so why do I always have to be 'The Mayor's Daughter'? Huh? Tell me that 'All-Knowing-Gale'!"

I've finally managed to look up at him, but now he's the one looking down at his lap. "I don't know everything."

"Really? Because you sure like to act like you do!" I've got more anger where that came from, after a whole week of my parents pushing me to 'reach out' to other teenagers my age and me trying, but feeling worse with each failed attempt, and Gale is being the perfect target for my anger right now, but he stops me before I can let anymore anger out.

"You're right about me." I'm frozen for the second time tonight. Did Gale Hawthorne just diss himself?

"About what?"

"Everything…especially about how I think I'm amazing…but I'm just-"

"No buts, you're actually getting somewhere." I use this time to walk over and sit next to him on the bench, and he makes room for me by scooting over.

"Am I a bad person?" At this he looks me directly in the eyes and the pain I see there is killing me. Did my words on Thursday really hurt him this much, or has something happened since then that's added to what I said and has finally thrown Gale over the edge?

"No, Gale, you're just the person that all your school fame and friends has made you. There are many good people who get a little strung up on themselves after being told they're awesome all of the time; they start to know nothing else. I mean, picture Finnick Odair; I'm sure he was a really nice, down to earth guy before the games, but now I've heard that he sleeps around and shows off his body whenever he gets the chance. Fame changes people."

Gale cocks an eyebrow at me and questions, "You're an Odair fan?"

I can feel a blush coming across my face, but it's nothing to be ashamed of. It's more unlikely for a teenage girl to NOT be a fan of Finnick Odair than to be one. "I didn't say that…but yes. I mean what girl wouldn't be? Have you SEEN the man?"

"I'm sorry I guess I don't swoon every time a guy takes off his shirt."

"He's not just any man _Gale. _He's Finnick-I'll melt-ice cream-with-my-abs-Odair!"

"I'm sure I could melt ice cream on my abs too."

"I thought you were trying to stop being so high strung?"

"I can't help the truth."

"Gale!"

"Look." He starts pulling up his shirt and my breath catches as I'm starting to realize what I'm about to see…Gale without a shirt on. My heart's beating faster than a hovercraft flies and I'm afraid he'll hear it, notice how excited I am, and get all cocky again.

Sure, I've seen plenty of guys with their shirts off. My father on particularly hot days and well…actually that's it. My father is the only male I've seen in person with their shirt off because I've seen Finnick many times on TV with his off, but it's not quite the same.

Gale finally, after what seems like ages, manages to get the cotton fabric over his head and my mouth gapes open, while his forms a triumphant smile. "So? Do my abs compare to those of the Capitol Model?"

In my mind I'm screaming _OH MY GOODNESS YES,_ but outside of my mind I'm just staring dumbly at his firm chest and stomach. I'm starting to lift one of my hands subconsciously to stroke his stomach, when he stops me. "Madge? Are you ok?"

My eyes snap away from his chest and make eye contact with his. "Hmmm?"

"Are you ok?"

I've finally completely snapped out of my daze, and answer, "Oh, yes. I was just day dreaming for a bit there."

"So, do my abs compare to Odair's?"

"Eh, they're ok." Gale looks confused and hurt, oh well, I am not about to admit that I couldn't breath for a bit when he showed me. I've done a very good job at hiding my true feelings for Gale ever since I met him, so much that he actually believes that I don't like him at all.

I remember when he sat with me for the first time at lunch. Even then I was a huge fan of Gale Hawthorne, but back then it was more of a celebrity crush, so when he asked if he could sit with me it took all of my effort not to shriek with excitement in his face. The effort was worth it, though, because sometimes I feel like the only reason Gale hangs out with me is because he thinks I don't like him. I can't even think of him leaving me if he ever finds out. He's my only friend, and he's a good one, most of the time, so I'm not going to risk that because of a stupid crush.

"Just ok?"

"Look, Gale, they're probably the best in the District because all the guys here are either not fit or so starved you can see all of their ribs, but you've got nothing on Finnick Odair."

"Fine. We'll go with that, at least I'm not totally hopeless."

His silly acceptance makes me laugh, and while I'm laughing I grab his shirt from the ground and throw it at him. "Now put your shirt back on; we don't need a swarm of fan girls running over here!"

Now he's laughing too and obligingly grabs the shirt and pulls it back over his head.

When he's done I have no idea what to say, so I let the first thing that comes into my mind blurt out, "Your mom is looking for you."

"Oh."

"What happened?"

"Nothing. They were just getting annoying, so I left. I needed a break from bread anyways."

"Your family being annoying IS something."

"Not really, they're always annoying."

"I would give anything to have your family. You all spend a lot of your time together, and even eat dinner together."

"Your family doesn't eat dinner together?"

"Not usually. On a typical day my mom's head hurts too bad for her to come downstairs to eat, and my father is so busy that he just eats in his study. It's usually just me and our house keeper, Lynda."

Gale seems to think about this for a while and then asks, "Would you like to join my family for dinner tonight?"

"Oh I couldn't. You need all the food you can get. You have such a huge family."

"Come on Madge, there's plenty of left over bread."

This makes me smile. At least I won't be getting the annoying special treatment that usually comes with me, or my family being invited over for dinner. "Promise your parents won't mind?"

"Promise, but you need to promise me something too."

"What?"

"That you'll ignore Rory."

This makes me laugh harder than I have in a while. "Why? What might Rory say that gives me reason to ignore him?"

"Well…ummm…he's just been making up a lot of stuff since he talked to you this morning."

Wow, earlier today I was just thinking that I didn't care if Rory bothered Gale about our fight, but now I feel horrible. "I'm…sorry Gale."

"For what?"

"Telling your brother about a personal conversation you and I had."

"Oh, no, at that I'm just glad that it was a fight we had and not a conversation about what he thought I was going to talk to you about."

"What's that?"

"Oh, ummm, nothing."

"Gale. Tell me."

"Fine! He thought I was going to your house to ask you out." My eyes feel like they're going to pop straight out of my head.

"Were you?"

"What? Oh, no. I went there to do what I did. Apologize. Besides I know that if I did go there to ask you out you would have said no anyways." This hurts me because I feel like I'm hurting him by letting him think the thought of dating him disgusts me, but he would have never wanted to ask me out anyways, so why are we even talking about this?

It's time for me to change the subject. "Wow. I'm hungry. Why don't we start walking to the bakery?"

"Madge." Apparently he doesn't understand that a subject change means that somebody wants to stop talking about whatever the subject was before.

"What?"

"Promise?"

"Promise what?"

"That you won't take anything Rory, or anybody else in my family says seriously? They like to let their imaginations run wild."

"Fine. I promise."

With my promise in the air, for what exactly I'm promising I'm not sure, but I don't really care. Tonight I get to eat dinner with a real family.

**My heart stopped, along with Madge's when Gale lifted up his shirt. Personally, I'd rather see shirtless Gale than a shirtless Finnick. **

**Please review! They give me ideas, sometimes, and also give me the want to write! Thanks and have a wonderful Hunger Games, or not, full night!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Gale's POV**

I don't know what possessed me to ask Madge to join my family for dinner, especially after they teased me about her earlier today, but there's no turning back now. At least that's what I keep telling myself as we're walking down the main road in Town, heading for the bakery.

I'm thinking of the way Madge's face looked when I showed her my abs. She was blushing and trying not to stare at them. While I'm thinking about it I start laughing a little externally and Madge looks at me with a quizzical look that shows me that she's wondering what in the world I'm laughing at. I wonder if she'd get mad at me again if I told her that I was laughing at her, Oh well, only one way to find out. "I was thinking about the face you made when I lifted up my shirt back in the park."

She starts to divert her eyes from mine in embarrassment, but then looks at me with a serious look and questions, "What about my face?"

"You were blushing and trying not to look directly at my chest."

"Well…I uh-didn't want to be rude."

"Don't worry, Madge, I know it's hard not to stare, so I don't think of it as rude."

She rolls her eyes at me, smiles, and then points ahead of us, exclaiming, "There's your house!" Wow, we've already walked a mile or so? Time must fly when you're laughing at Madge.

"Are you sure that's my house? It looks darker than usual." I can see Madge thinking about my words and taking them into consideration.

"Maybe they're in the living room. That's in the back of the house, off the kitchen, right, so would the light show through these front windows?"

"If the electricity was on it would, but I don't think it is tonight, so the candle light wouldn't show this far out, but my mom usually lights a few candles in the lobby windows, especially when one of us is out after dark."

"Maybe they went out looking for you?"

"Nah; they usually don't."

"So you've run away in a fit before?"

"Of course; my family can get annoying."

"They care about you Gale. When they're annoying it's their way of showing they care. You'll regret not realizing that when they're gone, or I guess I wouldn't really know about that, since the person that talks to me the most at my house is our house keeper." I feel awkward now; I knew Madge's mom had headaches all the time and that her dad works a lot, but I suppose I had never really made the connection that Madge might be lonely because of it.

"Well that gives you a lot of time to go hang out with friends."

Now she's looking down at the ground again, embarrassed, what do I keep doing wrong? "What _friends?" _She stretches out the word like it's a disease.

"Well, don't you-isn't there-?"

Now she's looking at me with that intense and accusatory look again when she says, "I only have one friend, and he's too arrogant to realize it! I've changed my mind; I'd rather deal with my parents and their party guests for dinner than you!" Only one friend? I'm stupidly starting to go through people in my mind to try and figure out who this arrogant friend of Madge's is, as, once she's already halfway down the street; I realize that she meant me.

"Madge…wait!"

I can barely make out her reply of, "Stay away Gale!" since she's already turning the corner into the Town Square. I never knew she was such a fast runner. I'm debating running after her, but decide not to. I'll talk to her later, and apologize, once she's cooled down. I don't think I've ever apologized to anybody as much as I apologize to Madge. I usually don't care, but whenever Madge runs off it effects me.

When I enter the bakery I notice that there really aren't any lights or candles anywhere in the house. Where could my family be? When I enter the bakery's kitchen, which we use as our personal kitchen as well, I notice a note on the table from my mom.

_Gale,_

_We went to the Undersees' house for dinner. Feel free to join us; otherwise we'll be home around 10. The younger kids are at the Erwins' house and Rory is at Patt's house._

_Love,_

_Your mother_

I remember Madge mentioning her parents having guests over tonight when she left, but she must not have known it was my parents or she would have said something when I invited her over for dinner. Come to think of it…I never even knew my parents were friends with the Mayor and his wife.

I look back at the note and a smirk is forming on my face…well I was invited over for dinner, so why not join them. Madge can't kick out a guest. I bet her mother taught her to be a better hostess than that. It's perfect.

**Madge's POV**

_Gale is so stupid!_ That thought has been coming into my mind so much lately that I can't believe I still talk to the boy. I don't care how old Gale is, even when he turns 19 in a few days he'll still be a boy in my mind because age hasn't changed his character at all.

As I approach my house I'm debating going in through the back door that leads directly into the kitchen, since that's usually where I enter when I'm trying to sneak in, but since the only way out of the kitchen is through the dining room, where my parents are no doubt eating with their friends right now, I decide to enter through the front door. If I'm quiet enough and open the squeaky door slowly they shouldn't hear me.

As I'm slowly opening the front door, my father walks out of the pantry nearby holding a bottle of white wine. "Madge, dear, you're back just in time. The Hawthornes have just arrived, although their eldest son doesn't seem to be here, sorry, we invited him so you would have some company, but please join us anyways. It's not the Capitol people we usually have for dinner."

I almost choke on my own spit. "The-the Hawthornes are here? As in Pheelo and Hazelle Hawthorne? Father and mother of Gale Hawthorne?"

He chuckles, and then replies, "Yes, I'm sure they're the only ones with that last name in this district that I know of, unless they had another kid."

"I heard that Oliver!" a voice from the dining room calls. It's lower sounding, so I assume it's Pheelo who answered.

Before he starts heading in the direction of the voice I want to ask him one more question, "Is mom-?"

"Yes, she's still doing fine. If anything, this evening has been good for her so far. Come on and join us. Hazelle said there's a chance her son might still show up." I try to not let my internal groan show and follow my father to the dining room. When we enter the room I notice Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne sitting on one side of the eight chaired table and my mother sitting in the middle on the other side with an empty chair on either side of her and Hazelle across from her. My father sits on her left, across from Pheelo, and I sit on her right with the empty chair in front of me; the two end chairs are also empty.

"I've got the wine!" My father exclaims as he holds up the bottle of liquor for everyone to see.

"I don't think I've had a good glass of liquor in a long time! The stuff's brutally expensive!" Pheelo says as he holds up his wine glass for my father to fill.

"That's the plus side of having Capitol residents staying here and bringing gifts! I don't think I've bought a bottle of wine since the day we got married!" They all continue to laugh and drink their wine. I don't think I've seen my parents, or even Gale's parents, this light heart since…well…ever.

After a few minutes, Deena, our house keeper comes in with a cart that's full of plates, silverware, bowls full of food and a big silver covered tray, which must have the turkey that I heard we were having tonight on it.

My mother speaks for the first time since I arrived as she says, "Katniss Everdeen gave us the turkey we're having tonight," she then gives a meaningful look to everyone that said not to say how Katniss came across it, even though we all know. Lots of people in Town knew about Katniss' illegal poaching before the games, since most of them bought it from her, and during the games more people began to realize how Katniss knew how to fight and hunt, but it still wouldn't be a good idea to mention it in our house with all of the cameras and microphones around. My parents usually inform friends about them before they enter the house for the first time, but most of the Capitol residents that visit have no idea, unless they're one of the people that listen to the bugs themselves. Although I'm glad to hear that Katniss is feeling well enough to go hunting again, or maybe this turkey's been in our ice box since before the games. I'm starting to think it's the latter because I haven't seen Katniss anywhere since the day she got back home. "Thank you very much, Deena, you can go home if you'd like. Madge and I will do the dishes afterwards, but please take a few plates of food home for your family."

Deena nods her head, answers, "Thank you Mrs. Undersee, see you tomorrow," and heads back into the kitchen to pack up, and I know she'll do some of the already dirty dishes too because she's quite protective of 'her' kitchen, but none of us fuss about it because she does a good job, and I don't complain because I have a feeling my mom won't feel up to doing dishes after this evening and all that wine she's drinking, so I'll end up having to do them all by myself.

Once everyone is about to dig into the meal Deena walks back in caring a place setting and stops in the doorway, "Your final guest has arrived," she says and I don't realize who she means until I'm staring at the dark haired nut ball in the doorway.

"What are you doing here?"

"I believe I was invited."

"Well I'm _un_inviting you."

"Madge, that's no way to treat your guest!" My mother scolds me as Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne are glaring at Gale as if they know he's done something wrong, but my mom is oblivious to this, still blaming me, and gets up to direct Gale to the seat in front of me. Deena sets the plate and silverware in front of him and leaves.

After a very long time of silence Pheelo comes up with a good hearted joke about Gale breaking up the party and the tone of the dinner goes back to cheery, well at least for the adults.

"Madge," Gale is whispering to me from across the table at the same moment that I decide that my piece of turkey is really interesting. Gale seems to get annoyed with me ignoring him though and decides to start playing footsy with me under the table. I finally look up at him and he gives me a look that shows that he's about to talk about everything that happened in front of our parents, so I stand up and look at him before I say, "I'm full. If you need me I'll be on the back patio."

A few moments after I walk out the door I hear Gale mumbles something that sounds like, "Uh…me too," and Pheelo replies, "Big surprise," and I hear a slap afterwards. Go Mrs. H!

I've barely sat in one of the plastic patio chairs before I hear Gale opening the sliding glass door that leads into the kitchen. He closes it behind him and sits in a matching chair across from me. "Madge…I…I didn't know…"

"That your parents were having dinner with mine tonight? Me neither." I'm not in denial…I'm just trying to avoid him saying the one thing I don't want to hear.

"I didn't know that I was your only…" Way to hit the punch line right on Hawthorne! I suppose since he's mentioned it I can't avoid it much longer.

"You don't need to say it, and besides did it really matter that you're my only friend? Shouldn't you treat me like a good friend no matter what? Even if I had billions of friends would that give you any reason to treat me any worse?"

"I'm…well…I'm sorry Madge…"

"You sure have been saying that a lot lately…see a problem?"

"Well I've just been…with Katniss and-"

"I don't want to hear it Gale! I know, you've been busy thinking about Katniss, trying to talk to Katniss...Katniss, Katniss, and Katniss! Well you know what? Why don't you go be HER friend? Because I'm done!"

"You sound like you're breaking up with me."

"Well I'm glad I'm not because if I was I would have kicked myself for going out with you this long!"

"Madge, just calm down…"

"Calm DOWN? I don't even understand how you're still just sitting there barely raising your voice!"

"Because I want to _actually _talk to you about this. I don't want this to be another one of our fights where you just run off. I want to actually get something settled."

"Why?"

"Because I care about you."

I raise an eyebrow at him and question, "How?"

"Like…I've been really confused lately…"

"I said _how, _Gale."

"Like…a…friend. You're my friend."

"Ok. Looks like we got that settled. You can leave now."

"Madge-I"

"I said leave. Good-bye. Oh, and tomorrow at school you have a half gym day, right?"

"Yeah." He looks like he's about to get excited; time to crush that smile on his face.

"Don't sit by me at lunch." I'm getting really good at this leaving thing. I had never before thought of myself as a passive person, but it's starting to make sense. I run from Gale when things get hard. I act like I don't care that my parents barely ever acknowledge me, and I act like I don't care that the girls always pick me last in gym class…it's just easier that way. When I act like everything's ok people don't question me and then I don't have to explain why I'm upset. Hmmm, maybe I should join theater class at the community center, since all I seem to do is act.

**Gale's POV**

That went horribly wrong. I didn't even get to eat dinner! I at least hope Madge tells my parents I went home because I don't want them scolding me later for not telling them where I went. I'm just about to turn the corner so that I'll be out of view from the Undersees' house, when I hear someone calling me. "Gale Doven Hawthorne! Get back here right this instant!" Got to love mothers…

I turn to face her and she's standing on the Mayor's front stoop with her hands on her hips, and I walk a little closer so that I'm standing at the gate that leads through the picket fence and into the yard. "Mom…Madge doesn't want me here."

"Yes. I could tell you did something terribly wrong when you first entered the dining room and she yelled at you, so to make it up to her you're going to do the dishes for her."

"Is she helping me?"

"No, the poor thing is up in her room crying, and don't try to tell me excuses Gale because I don't care! Picture if that was Posy. What's the first thing you would do if you found out that a boy made her cry?"

My mom always knows how to make me understand, so I grumble, "I'd punch him," in reply.

"Exactly, so instead of punching yourself why don't you go do the dishes? Tabby said you only have to wash and dry them, then she'll put them away later."

"Ok…" I really should have run from the Mayor's house. I would have been halfway to my house by now.

"They also offered to let you sleep in the guest room tonight so you won't have to walk home so late, but I said it was too close to Madge's room, so you'll be sleeping on their couch in the downstairs living room tonight."

"Mom-!"

"Exactly; I am your mother, so do what I say and go in there and do the dishes!"

I wish that one time, just once, I could prove to my mom that she's wrong about what's right for me. Personally I think this is a moment that could lead up to that, but I just don't have any viable proof, except for the crying girl upstairs who obviously doesn't want to see me, which shows that I shouldn't be staying here. Unfortunately the decision's not mine. Not as long as I'm living under my mom's roof, as she would say. So I'll probably have to do what my mom says for a while longer, even though I'm graduating in a few weeks because in Panem you don't get your own house until you've committed to making your own family…also known as getting married. Sometimes I wonder if a lot of the guys get married just so that they can get out of their parents' houses. I've made a pact with myself that if I'm not married within the next five years, then I'm grabbing the first willing bride and getting hitched. I bet that's what Uncle Mellark did. Why else would he have married the witch he calls wife? My mom doesn't even like her sister, and she usually can't hold a grudge against anybody.

I push myself out of my thoughts and walk past my parents and towards the kitchen, while they walk towards the front door to leave.

"Night Gale, see you in the morning."

"Night mom. Night dad. Bye." They'll see me bright and early in the morning too because there is no way I'll be here when Madge wakes up. I've felt her wrath enough to last me a life time…too bad she probably doesn't agree, which means I'll be on the receiving end of some more Madge yelling sooner or later.

…

The next morning I wake up at dawn, that's the plus side of being a baker, fold the blanket I slept with, and leave without being seen.

**The whole Hawthorne/Mellark related family thing will be explained (hopefully) in the next chapter at *TEASER* Peeta's funeral. It's your last chance to say your fair-wells to the bread boy, so don't miss it, and if somebody could get Katniss to come that would be amazing too! ...Who? Me? Never. **

**Now, I want to recommend to you all real quick mrslukecastellan's story called "Children of the Games", where the victors of the 74****th**** Hunger Games were Peeta, Katniss, Clove, and Cato. Over the years they formed a feud towards each other, until their children Luke and Elizabeth decide they're in love. I like it because I love Cato and Clove, but I just don't like how Katniss and Peeta usually have to die in order for their story to go on, so that's why I like this story. This story's style is similar to my stories of "Quizzical Laugh" and "Peeta the Vampire." Drastic is the word I used. I already know some of you who would love this story (laughingismyhobbie), so go read it! The link to her profile is below.**

**.net/u/2857297/mrslukecastellan**


	5. Chapter 5

**First, a brief explanation about the family situation, then Gale will explain the rest…so I want to make a reason for why my story is an AU, besides the fact that I just decided to switch Gale and Peeta's families (which is the real reason) So I'm saying that the bakery wasn't passed down the Mellark family line, but the Quincy line. So in this story Peeta's mom didn't inherit the bakery, but Hazelle, her sister, did. Also, this is where LWAM collides with chapter 6 of LWB. Also, I am determined to NOT fall behind on this story just because school decided to start back up and I work, am in 3 or more activities (it fluctuates), and on top of that have homework, but it does mean that I might not be updating every two weeks or so like I use to. It might be more like once a month now, but I'm trying my best!**

**Gale POV**

It's been about a week, since the last time I stood at the Everdeen door, so I figured it was about time I do it again, which is what I'm doing right now. My other reason for standing outside this door is that today is Peeta's funeral and I figured that if Katniss doesn't know about it, that she might want to. I'm also hoping that she would agree to come with me. Yes, I know you, the little person in my mind, are probably wondering why I'd go to Peeta's funeral, other than to see Katniss, and that reason is that I'm related to the goof ball. I know I haven't really showen it, going after his ex-girlfriend and all, but that would be because there's nothing to show. His mom hates my mom because she inherited the bakery even though she's the youngest child, and my mom hates his mom because she's annoying, or at least that's the reasoning she gives me. Also, I had always thought Peeta hated me because I got to live in the comfy bakery while he lived in the Seam and starved, but when I told him this he just said, "You can have the bakery. I've got the girl of my dreams waiting for me in the Seam." After he said this I proceeded to pour the rest of my glass of water on his head. He always annoyed me. Nobody is so perfect they can starve their whole life, watch their father die, and fight to the death at the hand of the Capitol and just go around acting like they're fine with their life. Because of this, I always thought there was some deep dark secret I didn't know about Peeta, like he killed babies to calm his anger, but after watching the Games I now know why he was so fine with his life, and the reason goes by the name of Katniss Everdeen. Perhaps that's why I'm so set on getting her to like me now, so that I too can feel the way Peeta felt, even when he was faced with death.

When I knock on the door Mrs. Everdeen opens it, and when she notices me she gives me a skeptical look. "Hi…Mrs. Everdeen. I-uh-I was wondering if Katniss was available to talk for a little while."

"Why?"

"Well…you see today is Peeta's funeral and-" at this point her eyebrows have shot up, "and I was wondering if Katniss would like to go to it with me."

"Nobody told us it was today."

"Maybe nobody had the guts, or it could be that it's a small funeral. We're trying to keep it out of the eyes of the public, not that they really care about a dead tribute anyways…" I think it's horrible how the Capitol will spend so much money to get the tributes prepared for their death, but once they die then they're no more important to them than shipping supplies.

"Well I suppose I could get her to come down and talk to you…come stand in the foyer while I go get her."

I'm left standing awkwardly in the foyer, until I see two little blue eyes and some blonde hair staring at me from around the corner. When the eyes see that they've been caught they hide back around the corner…and then out steps Prim. "Gale?"

"Hi Prim." She smiles.

"Are you feeling better after…after last week?" She must be talking about my great escape from the bakery last week.

"Oh, yeah; I'm fine. Thanks for helping out by the way."

"No problem. It was fun, and Rory invited me to help again some other time." I'm sure he did.

"Great. I'll be waiting to see you around then." This is when Mrs. Everdeen comes back down the stairs with a sad look on her face.

"I'm sorry Gale. I didn't even get to tell her about the reason why you're here, or your name. She's still not well enough for visitors."

Sometimes when our families got together Peeta would talk to me for hours about Katniss and the things they did or the ways he would cheer her up. I'm trying to think of what he said now because, although I hate to admit it, nobody knew how to cheer up Katniss like Peeta did. I can't remember anything that would help in this situation though, so I nod my head to the Everdeens and leave.

**Madge POV**

I haven't seen Gale since Saturday…well I've seen him, but I haven't interacted with him. Besides rolling my eyes and walking away. I don't really mind though. He's finally doing something I asked, or I suppose I more like commanded him to do, which is stay away from me.

I've spent the past week walking when I'm not at school or doing homework, and that's exactly what I'm doing right now. I've decided to take the path of overgrown grass that follows the fence around the boarder of the district for my walk today. The piece of fence I'm walking next to right now connects in a corner with the next piece of fence at the Victor's Village, so I figure I'll turn back around then and follow the fence back again because if I take the roads back that means I'll have to pass the bakery and I refuse to do that. Even though I'm still determined to not talk to Gale whenever I see the bakery my subconscious likes to take over and start moving my legs towards it. Thankfully, though, I've been able to resist so far, but I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to keep it up. Gale annoys me like crazy, but I have to still admit that I still really like him and may keep up my feelings until I find someone to replace him with.

I'm slowly approaching the back side of Katniss' new Victor's house and when I glance at it something catches my eyes. Its Katniss standing in what I can only assume is her bedroom and looking out the window at me. Katniss and I were never very close friends, but I bet that seeing me out her window is the most non-familial contact she's had since returning home, so I figure I'll try the best I can to cheer her up and I wave to her.

In return she just continues to stare at me, except now with a questioning look until I see her leave the window a few minutes later. Deciding not to question poor Katniss' weird actions, I start walking again, until I heard someone call my name.

"Madge!" they call again, so I turn and see Katniss staring at me again from her back porch.

"Katniss?" At the mention of her name she looks down at her toes.

"Ummm…"

"Yes?" I move closer to her so that I am standing in front of her but am still on the ground while she's two steps higher on the low porch.

"I…uh…haven't seen you in a while."

"Yeah, not since we had social studies together last semester." It's not entirely true, but I can tell Katniss is still in a fragile state and saying, "Yeah, not since you were reaped for the Hunger Games," wouldn't go very well.

"I remember that class…Pee…he…" How could I have been so stupid? I mentioned social studies trying to stay on safe ground, but I forgot that Peeta was in our class as well and had sat right next to Katniss.

"Are you going to his funeral today?" There's no use in my trying to side step the subject anymore now that she's mentioned him.

"What?"

"Peet-ummm…_his_ funeral is today." As my words sink in I watch Katniss slowly freeze. I've never thought of Katniss as a crier, but I feel like me might start balling right here in the open.

"No…no one told me…"

"Really? I thought Gale would have."

"Who's Gale?"

I can feel a smirk sliding across my face but I'm trying my best to hide it. "Oh, no one. So…my father and I go to every funeral that happens in this district. Would you like to join us?" Katniss nods her head in reply and starts to follow me as I start walking back to my house. "Wait…ummm…Katniss?"

"Yes?"

"You should probably put some different clothes on." She looks down at the silky, silver ball gown she is wearing. Normally this would be fine for a funeral, a little over the top, but fine, except that you can tell that she's clearly been sleeping in it for who knows how long. I'm contemplating when the last time Katniss took a shower might have been when she speaks, "You're right…can we meet up after I get ready? What time is the…you know?"

"5:00. I can come get you before then."

"No, you live right by the graveyard; I'll walk to your house."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." I'm again debating in my head and this time it's over whether I should push the issue or not, but I really don't want to have to walk twice the distance to get to the funeral, so I simply nod at her and start heading back home.

My mind is so caught up in still thinking about my recent encounter with Katniss that I don't even realize that I starting taking the road back home until it's too late. I'm deciding if I should turn back around and get to the nearest alley I can take to get to the fence, or if I should just tough it out and try and pass the bakery when I see them. Not Gale and his family, but the Mellarks. I'd never known any of them very well, but I have a hunch about what each of them thought about Peeta just by looking at their faces as they're approaching me. Mrs. Mellark, as usual, has a scowl on her face and is acting like she's better than everyone in this trashed up district. I personally love this district, mostly because of the people in it, but by her face I can tell she doesn't like it. One of Peeta's brothers, who I believe to be the eldest, is looking solemn, like he wants to be sad but is trying to toughen it out. I bet he loved Peeta and took care of him when their father died, so it hurts me that he feels like it's stupid to show his love. The other brother doesn't really look like he wants to be standing in Town dressed in his best clothes right now. I can only assume that he never really thought or cared about Peeta.

I'm now glad that I was able to get Katniss to come to the funeral because at least there will be one person there who truly knew and loved him.

**Gale POV **

I have only been home for about ten minutes when the remaining members of the Mellark family walk into the bakery. I'm trying my best to ignore them loitering in the lobby while I wash my hands to start on a loaf of raisin bread that we only make for special occasions, or when a customer specifically asks for it. This loaf is for our family today because we decided to close the bakery early so that we could all go to the funeral. If you ask me, it was a smart decision on my mom's part because I would have been the first to volunteer to stay and watch over the store.

"Welcome Patty! How are you and your family?" I should have known my dad would be the first to engage contact with the Mellarks; I don't think he has a grudge against anybody. My mom, on the other hand, is trying to feign being busy so she doesn't have to talk to her sister. I don't blame her, although I now know how it feels to be on the other side of being ignored…and it sucks. I sigh because this is the second time I've thought about Madge just today. I should really stop that, especially once we get to the funeral site because I at least owe Peeta my full attention as he's buried deep in the ground.

"Gale; it's time to put the bread in the oven. It'll be done when we get home and then we'll eat after."

"Ok mom." I follow her instructions and put the bread in the big oven and then I run upstairs to my room real quick to put on my best button-up shirt and least flour-covered slacks, and then I run back downstairs to join the others and we head out.

**Madge POV**

I've just finished getting ready when our doorbell rings. I'm dressed in a simple, yet elegant, pair of pants and a nice shirt. I usually try to dress down as much as possible when we go to a Seam event, even though Katniss is rich now and could probably dress up even more than me I see that she too is dressed simply, which is good because it's Peeta's family we're going there for, so the least we can do is not rub our wealth in their face, and even though I'm not to the Capitol's standard I'm still one of the more well off people in this district.

"My mother and sister are going to meet us there."

"Ok. I'll go get my dad. He's probably going over the speech he gives at funerals."

"Your dad's doing the ceremony?"

"Yes. If he didn't then the job would go to a Peace Keeper, and the last thing people need is a Peace Keeper at their family member's funeral."

"Ok…" I leave Katniss to her thoughts and go to find my father, when I find him sitting in his study.

"Dad. It's time to go."

"Already?"

"Yes, the ceremony starts in twenty minutes, and Katniss is waiting."

"Everdeen?"

"Yes! Come on Dad!"

"Coming, coming." He shuffles some papers around on his desk and reluctantly pushes himself out of his desk chair to follow me to our front door, where we put on our shoes and head out with Katniss trailing behind us.

The nice thing about living next to the graveyard is that it only takes a few short minutes to walk to wherever a funeral is taking place. When we arrive we see the grave digger standing next to a hole, which I can only assume is Peeta's grave, so my father leads us towards the scruffy looking man.

"Good afternoon, Trenson."

"Eh, you too Mr. Mayor, so how long is this one going to take so I can bury the box?" At this I see Katniss' fists clench, and I don't blame her. The guy really shouldn't be referring to a human being as a box.

"As long as it takes, now will you please go get the boy for us? The family should be arriving soon."

"Eh it's a boy then huh? S'pose I should know now. Watched the Game and all." Father quickly looks at Katniss as if he's afraid she'll break down crying at the mention of the Games, but she seems to be doing fine, so he turns back to Trenson and motions for him to go grab Peeta.

When he's gone Katniss turns to my father and asks him, "Why doesn't he care?"

My father seems to be taken back at first at hearing her speak, but then he answers, "He doesn't mean it out of disrespect, but after having to bury dead body after dead body Trenson has taught himself not to think about who's in the casket. When he first started this job I saw how much it hurt him. He started coming up with ways to eventually blame himself for each individual death and it was tearing him apart."

Katniss looks down at her feet and then replies in a small voice, "I know how he feels."

After hearing this I stupidly blurt, "Katniss, you blame yourself for Peeta's death?"

"And Rue's…" with this she turns her head to her shoes and walks over to the nearest tree. At the same time, I sense the family and the Everdeens approaching, so I turn around and immediately make eye contact with a confused Gale. I bet he's wondering, first, why I'm here, and second, why I'm with Katniss, so instead of answering his silent words I just smirk in reply.

Trenson returns with Peeta around the same time we've all finished getting settled in and are now in a horseshoe-ish blob. Katniss has returned and is now standing on my left side and Gale has managed to some how get so that he's standing on her left. My father walks over to stand on the other side of the hole, by the coffin, so that he may give his speech facing us all.

After a short speech about how Peeta was loved by many and a strong willed person, my father asks us if any of us would like to say something. Peeta's oldest brother, Ky, is the first to step forward. "May we-um-see…him? While I speak?" My father nods in response and with Trenson's help they remove the wooden lid that blocks our view of Peeta. "Brother…I'm…I'm sorry. I was never the big brother I should have been…I-" before he's able to go on I see Pheelo step up behind him and place a hand on his shoulder before he says, "Relax boy, now is a time to remind ourselves of the good times with Peeta, not to beat ourselves up about what we can no longer change." Ky just nods in response, which makes me wonder if he's either just too choked up to reply or if he can't remember any good times.

"Well…it's my turn," Patty Mellark says as she shuffles to the head of our little group, "Peeta. You were my son, and I loved you, and you should be happy about that since you barely ever did anything, and just sat there while I starved, so I suppose the good thing now is that we'll have one less mouth to feed."

I sigh; I guess that's probably the most heart felt thing we'll ever get out of Mrs. Mellark. At least she said something. The next person to step forward is a surprise to me, since its Gale. "Peeta…you were always pretty good at being able to tell what people were thinking, so you probably already know that I thought you were crazy. Crazy for not hating me even though I got the Town life when you should of and crazy for saying that some things in the Seam are better than Town…but I now know that you weren't crazy. You were just telling the truth, and I now see exactly what you meant. I'll make sure to keep protecting what you no longer can. Bye man." I look at Katniss. Does she know that was about her? And since when did Gale and Peeta ever have meaningful conversations like these? I notice that her eyes are wide in shock and her mouth is half open. She knew what he was talking about, but this seems to give her a new attitude as she steps forward to take Gale's place in front of us.

"I-I haven't really spoken to anybody for a while, especially this big of a group, but I'll do it…for Peeta's sake. I wasn't going to say anything. I thought I had already said everything to Peeta…before…but after the last speech I now realize that there's one thing I forgot to say…Thank you Peeta. For being the one person I could always turn to when I need cheering up, a shoulder to cry on, or just a companion. I-I love you. Still, and forever. You made me promise to you the day before the…you know…and as you also probably know…I broke it. You told me to continue with my life, and I didn't. I vow to change that now, but there is another thing you made me promise, that I can not keep…because I will never forget you Peeta Mellark…my best friend and lover."

Everybody seemed to agree that Katniss' speech was a good ending because once she was done we all put the three middle fingers of our right hands to our lips and saluted Peeta away. Then my father did a general closing good-bye and Trenson began to carefully lower Peeta's box into the hole using a strong rope and then began to fill the hole in.

Katniss is by my side again and is staring at the hole without blinking. "Katniss...I think you should go home."

"Can we go for a little walk first?"

"Sure." Once we get to the Town Square she stops me.

"Madge?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For helping me do one of the hardest things I've done in a long time."

**I hope the fact that this is one of the longest chapters I've written for this story so far makes up for the long wait! This chapter was so important, which made it a bit tricky. Hopefully we'll get through all of these sad chapters soon and get to more of the silly ones again! Please tell me what you thought! Toodles!**


	6. Author Apology Letter

I'm writing this little note to say that I'm deeply sorry, but not because I haven't been writing because I have been. The reason I haven't posted since September or October though is because I tried my hand at NanoWriMo this year, but then decided to write the next chapter to this story one day, and got through half of it and then lost both the new chapter and my NanoWriMo story when my desktop crashed on me. Then I decided to writing a little one-shot prologue to tide you all over for a while, but that was lost when the laptop I wrote it on also crashed. Since then my family of five had ben sharing one computer, so I haven't been able to write a story until today when I was graciously given a new computer for Christmas.

Unfortunately, right now I also have two papers to write for school, so it might be a while before I am actually able and willing to write, but I wanted you to know that I am still writing for my stories and that you can now start to blame me, but the past I blame on my ability to crash computers.

So until later…

Happy holidays to those who celebrate them,

Allium Banner


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